


Gremlin Sasuke vs Konoha Establishment : the Uprooting

by KrakenMo (goldenKnife)



Series: Gremlin Children of Konoha [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Ghost of Senju Tobirama, Gradual Hostile Takeover of a secret organization as a form of Grief Management, Some Humor, Trans Character, Uchiha Sasuke & Critical Thinking (relationship-freeform)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25472179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenKnife/pseuds/KrakenMo
Summary: When Sasuke wakes up in the hospital to news that the Uchiha have already been cremated, he is less than pleased. He demands autopsy reports, investigation reports, and a full accounting of every eyeball. When this is met with resistance and inquires about his health he demands clothing so that he can find better answers himself. His demands are passed along and he’s given food. He allows this because he’s hungry and plotting requires fuel.Being the origins of mini mob boss Sasuke and the flower agents.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke & Yamanaka Inoichi
Series: Gremlin Children of Konoha [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1845049
Comments: 5
Kudos: 149





	Gremlin Sasuke vs Konoha Establishment : the Uprooting

It makes no sense that Itachi thought he could stir Sasuke to hate by disrespect, by ignoring his choices and calling him the wrong name. All Itachi did was break immersion. Obviously this isn’t real, this person claiming to be his brother hasn’t done their research at all. Aniki never called Sasuke by the wrong _anything_ once after he’d announced his true gender when he was four- Itachi calling him “Foolish little Sister” is even more out of character than murdering everyone and it makes Sasuke think hard about what he was seeing in this terrible illusion.

Inconsistencies. If Aunt Sana had died like that, her body and blood would not have been sprawled in the doorway, his cousins hadn’t died with their backs to the wall, they’d been over by the fence; there’s no reason for Itachi to be showing him the wrong deaths unless he didn’t know the right ones. If he didn’t do it. Or if he had help. Or if he was the fall guy.

No wonder he’s trying so hard at this facade- if Itachi was the fall guy, then Sasuke was the witness. It would be his job to finger Itachi as the culprit so that no one would look too hard at the inconsistencies being swept under the rug. If Itachi was taking the fall, then it was Sasuke’s job to survive this however he could, because it was a set up from top to bottom.

“Live, cling to your false life, Imouto-chan, and when you’ve shed your illusions and have the same eye as me, come seek me out.” Itachi repeats, flashing the strange Sharingan eye that didn’t match the more familiar three tomoes in his other eye.

When adults disrespect Sasuke’s pronouns he doesn’t get mad per se- according to his mother he channels the feuding spirits of his great-grandma Izuna and the Nidaime at their gender smashing worst, a nightmare combination with no sense of proportion nor respect for age or power, only zeal and a disturbingly on-point knowledge of clan and village law for a child his age. So Sasuke holds onto the real memories with the same ferocity: the person on the power pole he barely glimpsed- the inconsistencies in the bodies- the exact words of Itachi’s taunts- his mother’s fond description of how _he_ is the nightmare. He’ll use it to move forward when the world would freeze the fire in his blood.

When Sasuke wakes up in the hospital to news that the Uchiha have already been cremated, he is less than pleased. He demands autopsy reports, investigation reports, and a full accounting of every eyeball. When this is met with resistance and inquires about his health he demands clothing so that he can find better answers himself. His demands are passed along and he’s given food. He allows this because he’s hungry and plotting requires fuel.

The Hokage shows up half a hour after Inoichi and it’s already too late for Sarutobi Hiruzen because Yamanaka Inoichi is on retainer as Sasuke’s counselor of record and damned good at his job. All the records that the Village administration may have used to blackmail him into compliance have already been neatly swept up and the hospital staff reminded of their oaths- Sasuke reminded Inoichi that Konoha’s hospital falls under the Konoha village charter, which is held under the original Senju-Uchiha treaty, not the Hokage’s authority. Sasuke and his deputies are the sole known signatories of that treaty left with Senju Tsunade out of the village for so long, how unfortunate.

The Hokage makes all sorts of sympathetic noises in Sasuke’s direction but his answers to pointed questions are as empty as the wind. He’s not willing to swear with a blood-seal that all the Uchiha bodies were burned complete and intact; which is as good as an admission that they weren’t or that he’s so weak that he doesn’t know and isn’t willing to risk it. Sasuke attempts to eyebrow him but he needs to work more on his tic control for full impact. The withering, “Un-hn,” conveys his doubt better.

The Compound has been cleaned up, so it’s ready for Sasuke when he’s feeling stronger. Sasuke doesn’t let his doubt show- he’d rather keep his plans to himself for now and possibly forever.

Once he and Inoichi are alone again, he looks up at the calm blond man and asks, “You ever been into the Old Archives? Wanna come trespass except not because hey, Founding Clan?”

Inoichi quirks one eyebrow, and because he has years more practice it looks elegant and conveys his “Why not?” exactly as he intends.

Sasuke will keep training.

*

_The initial reason to live at the Senju compound is that it's private. It’s the reason he'll give to anyone who figures out enough to ask. Actually there’s one other person who can legally seek refuge in the Senju Compound, but hasn’t. Uzumaki is a loudmouth, but he knows the value of secrecy when setting up a trap, so Sasuke isn't worried about his potential future roommate giving away the game._  
  


He wishes he was better at imitating Shikamaru’s slouching walk or Chouji’s ready smiles, but for this exfiltration he really is better off Henged as an impatient and pouting Ino in her casual wear, tugging at Inoichi’s arm as they step down the street from the hospital. A few people glance in their direction, but no one stops them from turning the corner and ambling down to the small neglected temple next to the sushi shop. Inoichi starts to walk past it but Sasuke tugs on his hand and leads him into the tiny front courtyard before cutting his thumb on chakra-sharpened teeth like his mother taught him. The Opening is simple enough for the Uchiha and Senju, three drops of blood in the right place and the Invocation of the Peace, which he recites just loud enough for himself and his guest to hear as he runs his bloody thumb over the seal carved in the stone.

The blood and the words are accepted with a soft sigh and clicks of locks disengaging. Sasuke leads Inoichi into the surprisingly dry room with its murals and ritually discarded weaponry in crossed pairs- what he needs is preserved with seals stronger than any glass in the center. The scroll is unrolled to show the signatures of Madara and Hashirama most prominent in still bright vermilion ink, but also their brothers and all the other important members of their clans, confirming the treaty that made them allies and formed the village.

Sasuke has to make another offering of blood and chakra to the preservation seals, this one is fussier but it recognizes his rights as a member of Izuna’s line. He picks up the original treaty with care, unrolling it to the middle section until he finds the relevant paragraphs.

He doesn’t fight the grin that spreads across the face as he reads it and confirms that his plan will work. When he smiles up at Inoichi, the man startles- “What?”

“Those eyes in my daughters face is a bit odd.”

“Oh...” Sasuke hadn’t noticed anything different about his eyes but now he can feel the slight drain. He ends up dropping the Henge before he figures out how to turn off his Sharingan, but Inoichi gives him a nod when he manages it. Neither of them say anything more about it for now, the emotions will come out later, during a proper counseling session.

At least he’ll have real privacy to practice activating and deactivating his eyes if his plan works.

He’s glad for the meal the nurses brought even if it was terribly bland as he applies another Henge and closes the Archive back up. The trip to the Old Senju compound is a longer walk than it needs to be, but Sasuke would rather skirt the market and the academy districts than have to pretend to be Ino to any of the girl’s myriad friends. They arrive at the two pillars carved with discreet Senju and Uzumaki mons in front of a particularly lush bit of the woods near the Nara and Sasuke hopes that the stories he heard are true.

Sasuke holds the treaty in his clean hand and nibbles on the other to get it bleeding again, letting one drop fall for each line of the ritual request, “I am an orphan of the Uchiha, come to seek asylum and shelter with my clan allies. Under the boughs of the forest and the light of the sun I ask protection until I can protect myself. Under the treaty and pact we have made, I bid the Gates to open.”

The scroll, the blood, and the pillars all glow for a moment and then the trees creak out of time with the wind. Glowing ripples of light spread from the stone pillars in an arc that goes out and up to meet with the usually invisible wards around the outer walls of Konoha. There’s more sounds of creaking and grinding out of sight, perhaps a house resurfacing after being sealed in a tree for half a century, perhaps something else.

“I think this is where you have to go alone until you can establish your residence,” Inoichi says after a moment, “I don’t feel welcome to pass through yet.”

“Thanks, see you tomorrow.”

Inoichi nods and waves as Sasuke passes through the gate and into the private forest of the Senju.

*

_The second best part of moving into the Senju compound is having a tiny Fuuin-clone of the Nidaime as the librarian._

Sasuke found the oversized house down the overgrown path from the gate, sitting serenely amidst the over-tall trees like it had always been there. It’s a different style than the Uchiha compound, a mix of river stones, natural wood, and bright tiles with rounded edges instead of the squared off corners he’s used to. The curved windows and shark roof decorations remind him of the sea, and Sasuke remembers that the Uzumaki were allies of the Senju long before they made peace with the Uchiha.

The inside is pristine of dust, mold and other signs of the passage of time- but cluttered with half a clans worth of random stuff. The separate crate of empty storage scrolls that he finds sitting by the path when he retreats to the engawa to search for less cluttered rooms tells the story clear as day- you can’t put a storage scroll into a storage scroll or into a storage house, it would seem. Sasuke paws through the scrolls until he finds one that can accept a great many objects in succession and a very large one made for transporting furniture. He forges a path through the mess (snagging one or two shiny things for later investigation) until he finds what he’s looking for on the thankfully-uncluttered third floor- Senju Tobirama’s lab and library.

Family legend holds that there was no one better at countering the Uchiha than the White Demon, who took far more joy in being a sensor, swordsman, suiton-adept and seal-master than in the piles of paperwork required to prop up his brother’s peace. Sasuke plans to find something in here that will give him an edge over whoever set Itachi up as the fall guy for the purging of his clan, even if it’s just an empty threat. Maybe a seal or technique to help him track his kin by residual chakra if someone tries to use their eyes, maybe something to force people to speak the truth- he won’t know until he looks.

When he finds the seal and jutsu to activate the clone-librarian in the Index section he tells himself not to hope for a warm reception, but the tiny clone Nidaime is surprisingly helpful, and then furious on his behalf when he explains his presence. Oh, how the tables have turned.

The Eyeball Tracker he wants doesn’t exist, but it might be possible to make it if he’s willing to study the Fuuinjutsu scrolls and learn. Sasuke is absolutely willing, the world will tremble before him.

But there are other things he may find more immediately useful around the Senju Compound, oh yes indeed.

* * *

_The Best part of living in the Senju compound is that it is actually very private, so when he lures mysterious masked ninja over no one can hear the screaming... or the other noises._

He picks up the first Masked Ninja during his third trip to the Uchiha compound to gather scrolls, clothes, and modern conveniences. It’s creepy even before he notices that he’s being watched- he can’t spot them, but it’s laughably easy to get them to follow him when he leaves. Clearly they’ve never encountered Uzumaki Naruto in his natural state, or they would be more wary of small children walking in straight lines.

The Wards to the Compound don’t want to let the masked intruder through, instead trapping them like a fly in a spider web until Sasuke temporarily seals them in a transport scroll- he has ten minutes to run to the Singing Trees before the air in the scroll runs out.

He makes it in six- he’s getting faster as his chakra recovers from his time in the genjutsu.

The Singing Trees are not as coherent as the Librarian, but they can still communicate if you make your questions clear enough. Sasuke dumps the creepy masked ninja under the trio of not-quite oaks and tries not to giggle as the roots wrap and hold without seeming to move all that fast. It’s a neat trick, how a smooth-fast can trick the eye as much as a snap. Sasuke puts his hand on the tree trunk and asks with mind and chakra, “Hostile?”

The Trees creak. The ninja lets out a muffled moan and struggles, but all they manage to do is dislodge their blank mask, revealing dark grey eyes to match their hair and a pleasant enough face failing to hide anxiety and confusion.

Sasuke frowns. Indecisive? Did the ninja not know, or were they not able to say? “Constrained?” he asks the Trees and gets an immediate flood of information in response. Oh, that’s _interesting._ He digs into a pocket for a blank scroll and wraps in around the largest tree- it fills with symbols overlapping and spinning around each other, to complex for him to understand much of what the seal is meant to do, but several characters repeat often enough for him to catch and read them. Loyalty, Village, Silence, Death.

 _Very_ interesting.

“I’m gonna need a consult on this, you hang tight.”

The unmasked watcher looks at him with disbelief. Sasuke doesn’t care, his prisoner looks younger than Itachi so he’s got no right to judge Sasuke’s weird from the towering height of _maybe_ four years seniority. A simple “Sleep” request to the tree makes the wrap something the guy can’t protest or try to suicide his way out of while he takes the scroll to the library.

Tiny Tobirama throws a fit over the prisoner’s seal while Sasuke unpacks his haul and throws together a quick salad to eat while he listens. The breakdown is far from complete, unfortunately; the Singing Trees are scary good at what they do, but they were designed to strip curses from objects and animals, not do seal expansion and analysis. What can be read is that the seal demands loyalty to the Foundation of the Village even unto death, with a compulsion preventing speaking of it.

“That doesn’t sound like the standard oaths, those are to the Hokage or the chain of command, even for Anbu, right?” Sasuke says after chewing on the thought and a mouthful of greens.

“You’re correct, I have no idea what this Foundation is supposed to refer to,” Tobirama’s doll-sized imprint clone crossed his arms with a huff, tapping his insubstantial foot on the table.

“Okay, but can we replace the Foundation of the Village with Founders of the Village? As a stopgap until we can remove the whole thing,” Sasuke asks, motioning at the Treaty Scroll set in its new set of protective seals on the wall above the working table.

This is the first time Sasuke sees the miniature White Demon smile like that, but it won’t be the last. Oh, but it is good to have enablers as poorly socialized as he is.

They’ll have to work fast to turn this agent to their side before their master expects them back, but if they can manage it’ll be the first step in this war. Sasuke stuffs the last tomato into his mouth and squares up- time to be a nightmare for someone new.

*

**Author's Note:**

> Thus begins Sasuke's slow take-over of Root, one agent at a time.


End file.
